In 1948, when Mrs. G., hospitalized with debilitating rheumatoid arthritis, became the first person to receive a mysterious new compound"cortisone"her physicians were awestruck by her transformation from enervated to energized. After eighteen years of biochemical research, the most intensively hunted biological agent of all time had finally been isolated, identified, synthesized, and put to the test. And it worked. But the discovery of a long-sought magic bullet came at an unanticipated cost in the form of strange side effects. This fascinating history recounts the discovery of cortisone...